String of fires keeps Lexington firefighters busy

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - A string of structure fires across Lexington kept firefighters busy over the past 24 hours.

In two instances, they were called out to the same apartment complex.

A tenant at the Ironwood Apartments on Cambridge Drive says he was just up late with his cat, watching TV early Friday morning when he realized something wasn’t right.

“I went outside, and I looked in the back, and I’d seen smoke coming from the back of the building. So I called 9-1-1,″ he said.

Fire officials say the call came in around 1:30 a.m. and when they arrived, they broke off the renter’s walls to find flames within.

“It was inside the wall. I couldn’t even see it, but I could smell it, and I could smell electricity at the same time,” the tenant said.

The renter told us that firefighters had just been out at this apartment complex because of a construction accident while putting up new decking. Fire crews confirmed that they had been at that very scene just 12 hours earlier.

They say around 1:30 p.m. Thursday, a construction crew was using torches to cut down the old metal deck when a bird’s nest caught fire.

Fire crews tell us they put out that fire quickly and then thoroughly checked the area for hot spots. However, they say an ember likely fell in between the brick and fiberboard, eventually sparking a second incident.

“I guessed it simmered back up through the walls, and when they tore my wall down, it came straight through the walls,” the tenant said.

The tenant tells us he has been displaced by some significant fire and water damage and is still looking for a place to stay in the meantime, but right now, he’s just happy he’s safe and reunited with his cat.

A second apartment was affected by these fires, but fire officials say it was vacant. They added that the cause of the second incident remains under investigation.

Crews also responded to two other fires within the same time period. Those fires happened on Augusta Drive and Lucille Drive Thursday.

Copyright 2023 WKYT. All rights reserved.